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Dissertation Information for David Gumaro Garcia

NAME:
- David Gumaro Garcia

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2006)

ADVISORS:
- Juan Gomez-Quinones

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Eric R. Avila
- Miriam Silverberg
- Danial G. Solorzario

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The evolution of a critical race theater: Culture Clash and Chicana/o performance art, 1965--2005

Abstract: This dissertation chronicles how three Chicano/Latino performance artists---Richard Montoya, Herbert Siguenza, and Ric Salinas---helped carry social protest theater from its foundations in the 1960s and 1970s teatro movements into the new century. Since 1984, this comedy theater trio Culture Clash has written and performed twelve original plays, two full-length play adaptations, at least four distinct anthology productions, and starred in their own TV show. Rooted in the fervor and protest of the Chicana/o Movement, this body of work satirizes racial and social injustice, and has evolved into what I term a critical race theater.

My interdisciplinary cultural history approach incorporates research methods from social science and theater to document the evolution of Culture Clash and their politically inspired, comedic performance art. I conducted individual audio-recorded interviews with founding members of the troupe, including Rene Yañez, Marga Gomez, Monica Palacios, and the widow of José Antonio Burciaga. Furthermore, I examined personal and public collections that included photos, letters, original storyboards, published and unpublished scripts, flyers, newspapers, magazine reviews, performance programs, and audio-recorded plays.

My historical analysis links Culture Clash to the social protest theater of groups such as the Black Revolutionary Theater and El Teatro Campesino. Grounded in this tradition and inspired by a Chicana/o teatro rasquachi aesthetic, Culture Clash depicts the experiences of urban Communities of Color from a uniquely Chicano-Latino perspective. To demonstrate their evolution, I analyze four Culture Clash plays, The Mission, A Bowl of Beings, Radio Mambo, and Chavez Ravine. This historically informed theater emphasizes the ongoing problem of race in the U.S. and critiques racism as it intersects with multiple forms of subordination.

Drawing on a critical race theory framework, I argue that Culture Clash's ethnographic, site-specific plays since 1994 exhibit the tenets of a critical race theater. This performance art illuminates the lives and histories of marginalized communities while consciously challenging social and racial injustice. Utilizing satire, cultural symbolism, poetry, and comedy, Culture Clash's critical race theater places the experiences of People of Color and their cultural resilience and resistance center stage.

MPACT Scores for David Gumaro Garcia

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calculated 2008-08-09 09:14:20

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Students under David Gumaro Garcia

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None